The present disclosure relates to an electric hair cutter.
One example of a known electric hair cutter, which is driven by electric power to cut body hair such as beard, includes an electric motor having an output shaft and a motion conversion mechanism that converts rotary motion of the output shaft of the electric motor into reciprocating linear motion. The reciprocating linear motion drives a movable blade with respect to a fixed blade. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2013-66548 discloses one example of such an electric hair cutter. As shown in FIG. 12, an electric hair cutter 900 includes a motion conversion mechanism 910 that includes a first conversion portion 911, a second conversion portion 912, and an output portion 913.
The first conversion portion 911 converts rotary motion of an output shaft 921 of an electric motor 920 into reciprocating linear motion in a direction intersecting with the axis of the output shaft 921. The second conversion portion 912 includes a link 912A and guides 912C. The link 912A is coupled to the first conversion portion 911 to convert the reciprocating linear motion transmitted from the first conversion portion 911 into a reciprocating linear motion performed in a direction extending along the axis of the output shaft 921. The guides 912C are in contact with opposite sides 912B of the link 912A so that the link 912A moves in the direction extending along the axis of the output shaft 921. The output portion 913 is coupled to the second conversion portion 912 to drive a movable blade 931 with respect to a fixed blade 932 when the reciprocating linear motion is transmitted from the second conversion portion 912.
In the motion conversion mechanism 910 of the above publication, the reciprocating linear motion that is transmitted from the first conversion portion 911 to the second conversion portion 912 contains a motion component corresponding to the direction extending along the axis of the output shaft 921 and a motion component corresponding to a direction orthogonal to the axis of the output shaft 921. Thus, when the second conversion portion 912 linearly reciprocates in the direction extending along the axis of the output shaft 921, the opposite sides 912B of the link 912A interfere with the guides 912C. Such interference of the link 912A with the guides 912C may generate a loud noise.